Rector's intervention at the Opening of the Strategic Thinking Day.

Bayahibe, September 2021

What do we come to this meeting?

Let's transform the question: What summons us to this meeting?

The present summons us. A present that privileges us. That gives us the privilege of defining INTEC's strategic course for a new five-year period.

The present summons us and it gives us an enormous privilege: to establish the strategic course that coincides with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of INTEC. 50 years since it was a dream, a daring, a daring! Since it was founded, as Don Rafael Herrera said in that unforgettable editorial –which we should read and reread as an inspirational mantra: like “an act of rebellion”. Act of rebels, yes, but making it clear that, unlike that now classic 1955 film, in this case it was about Rebels with a cause. Rebels with a cause who in 1972 embraced the cause of contributing to the social transformation of the country through higher education, the development of culture and research and dissemination of science and technology.

The past summons us, a past that is an inheritance, legacy, the root of commitments and achievements accumulated in almost 50 years, thanks to the contributions that, as a life option and even as sacrifices of other perhaps more accommodating or more profitable opportunities, have made so many, from the founders to ourselves. A past full of imprints and original sagas, as well as successive and reiterative reaffirmations, the vocation of social commitment and excellence, creativity and innovation, of doing a lot with little, "always uplifted with the star as an emblem”In favor of the best interests of our country, of a better country for all.

Above all, the future summons us. A future that we must face decisively so that it is promising, that leaves us an enriched heritage and not a set of bundles, so that we leave that heritage as an improved legacy to the generations that succeed us and that will succeed us. A near and immediate future, that makes us more committed, more enthusiastic and more proud to be its protagonists.

The past summons us and the present summons us remembering and making our own what Ramón Flores and Manuel Cocco wrote, back in 1975, when referring to the first 3 years of the nascent INTEC, which we may well subscribe again, today, 49 years after our foundation:

"Getting here required extraordinary sacrifices, but for those who have participated in the process, the weight of the work is reflected on their faces and also the joy of taking part in such an enriching process in intellectual and spiritual terms."¹

The future summons us supported by the past, because we have ancestry, as heirs of a long and honorable tradition that implies for us a source of great pride and also of deep commitment. Traditions mark us and nourish us. As the chorus of the classic movie says The violinist in the Roof[1]"Tradition, Tradition, without tradition we would be as shaky as a violinist on the roof".

The present summons us looking to the future because we have the opportunity and the duty to define an institutional strategy that, based on the positive core of the competencies and capacities demonstrated by those who have been and are INTEC, over 5 decades, we can further unleash the potential to make this, our Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, LA cutting edge university. Vanguard for its innovative and excellent contribution to the sustainable development of the nation. Remembering, yes, that being avant-garde is being reliable, ensuring not only that we do what we do well, but that we do what we should do very well, because, as the professor said Theodore Levitt, professor at Harvard University: There is nothing worse than doing very well what you should not hacer. That should be our purpose to honor the tradition to which we owe ourselves: do very well what we should do.

Our past, our present and our future summon us, then, to define what we should do and commit to doing it very well.

How do we propose to respond to this call?

We will reply with the methodology of appreciative inquiry because it invites us to inquire, to appreciate, to imagine and innovate, to preserve and develop the strengths that make us valuable. And, with this methodology, guide ourselves through the 4 D's of ddiscover the best of our genes and our metabolism (and make it explicitly shared), that of dream, dream (which, as Edgar Allan Poe said: "Those who dream during the day understand many things that escape those who dream only at night"), that of ddesign (because as Peter Drucker said: "The best way to predict the future is to create it") and destino (and as in the poem 

Invictus, Henley, so dear to Mandela, to be masters of our destiny and captains of our souls).

We will reply as a hive, with the collegiality of industrious bees, knowing that none of us is as wise or as good as all of us put together, and because, remembering our founders, we can emulate them.

“The Institute arises as an act of rebellion against a university structure that is becoming more rigid and inoperative every day and against a society whose progress is each day worse distributed and emptier. People did not join the institution because of the advantages it could offer them. The Institute does not offer anything to anyone, because it is very poor, and asks too much of everyone, for the same reason. People came closer in search of a hope that was already lost in the country. A hope of creative work, of government, sometimes reckless, of imagination, where new ideas cannot always be realized, but are discussed with an open mind, where innovation is the rule of the game and the possibilities for improvement are not closed. for small interests. " ²

We will reply critically, aware of existing university models, but able to define and choose el model that corresponds to us to serve the best interests and the most legitimate needs of our country. A model of historically and socially grounded university, therefore, paraphrasing Eduardo Latorre, We must begin by responding to the specific needs of our society and those of world society, rethinking our institutional work, not to imitate, but to create and contribute to the design of a new future and the formation of a universal man.³

We are going to respond creatively, and, encouraging ourselves again with Eduardo Latorre, knowing that:

“Until now, no one has a definitive answer on how the Third World university should be and be organized to serve the dependent and underdeveloped countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Much less do we pretend. those of INTEC, believe that we have even found the way. What is intended is to make the effort to seek it as an institutional objective and not to reproduce obsolete university models or designed to serve societies with problems very different from ours. "⁴

We will reply visionary, combining tradition and change, visualizing our future with creativity, without fear of the uncertainties of the new. Who does not take risks, neither loses nor wins, says the saying. We must look to the future with enthusiasm and daring. Otear the future. Guess the challenges that it presents us. Anticipate in responding to them. And to build our Institute, continuously, with the firm intention of being the best in what we do, jealously ensuring that it is what we must do. In what we have been doing as part of our tradition, updated in the model, mission, vision, principles and values ​​that we have to formulate.

To all this summons us to this meeting. Let's sit down summoned to respond with the MIT motto: mens et manus, mind and hand, thought and action.

References

• ¹ Flores, Ramon and Cocco, Manuel (1976). The INTEC experience. INTEC Documents, Vol. 1
• ² Flores, Ramon and Cocco, Manuel (1976). The INTEC experience. INTEC Documents, Vol. 1
• ³ See: Latorre, Eduardo (1978) The role of the university in third world countries. INTEC Documents, Vol. 3
• ⁴ Latorre, Eduardo (1978) Main objectives of the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo. INTEC Documents, Vol. 3